Tim Blair

Whew! That's so reassuring. When the hip are no longer hip, the terrorists win!

there's been an unbelieveable change in the city, but maybe not in the sections where convicts hang out.

I suppose its hard to be moved by real life while awash in the mighty jet stream of fashion markers. At any rate…….Blainey’s speech issues a fair warning regarding the repackaging of socialism over the next 20 to 30 years. For one, I agree that it appeals to the young and idealistic, those who are less fettered by the responsibilities of adult life and their own actions. For another, I think it has to do with points of potential comparison.

“Democracy” was a rallying cry in many former Soviet bloc countries before the end of the Cold War, in no small part because the primary example of government they had in front of them was a failing communist/socialist state. While undergoing the transition to democracy, however, some of the ugly, lumpy bits got revealed. Through equal parts mismanagement and human screw ups, the perfect idealized image of “democracy” started to be replaced with the notion that this system too can be rendered useless when run by knuckleheads (*for an example, see the Carter administration). So now, instead of looking at failing communists, many people around the world are looking at flailing democracies and looking for an alternative.

I think Blainey is correct when he says that capitalism’s victory is a potentially temporary one. If we allow it to do “silly things,” as he says it is want to do with “the field to its self,” like not expanding outward from the entrepreneurial class into the socio-economic suburbs and ghettos of societies, it’s essentially liberating character will be besmirched. I would hate to see the door opening in newly democratized countries for the “Salvador Allende Syndrome” in which Marxists get elected through legitimate democratic means. Hence my involuntary cringing when I hear people involved in the Middle East reconstructions talking about pursuing “democratic paths other than American style democracy.” Our way may not be the only way, but those kind of comments sure do send up a lot of red flags.

"There will be alibis and explanations for China and the Soviet Union"

heh. they've been there all along on every campus

If we build a fence around them, will it keep them in?

What was the "friend" doing time for? Three years, I'm guessing it wasn't a traffic violation. Trafficing? Maybe. Ah, here it is. Average time served, 3 years... for rape.

http://www.personaldefense.tv/

"There has been the Bali bombings"?

Prison grammar for sure.

What was the "friend" doing time for? Three years, I'm guessing it wasn't a traffic violation. Trafficing? Maybe. Ah, here it is. Average time served, 3 years... for rape.

I'm not sure about how Queens compares with Queensland, but maybe the friend just filled out a form wrong.